To support community wellness in South Pacific County through active collaborations

Geri Marcus (left) is the past director of Willapa Behavioral Health and has been an active member in WellSpring's formation and continued success. Above she poses with coalition coordinator Vinessa Karnofski while accepting the Asset Builder Award in June 2016.

​By Kelsey Hopstad, AmeriCorps Volunteer

As WellSpring celebrates a decade of partners and champions for our community, we must recognize Geri Marcus. A pillar in the community, Marcus has worn many hats (evaluation coordinator, school psychologist, special services director, education manager for Ocean Beach Hospital, PR and communications, the list goes on and on), but we think her best look is collaborator and community partner at WellSpring. As Marcus says, “The people have been the best part!”

In the case of many organizations, it is common to try and “fix” problems alone. When Marcus and the 0-K Committee met in 2003, they quickly realized that their focus area wasn’t just education or children, it was all services in the community. Through this shift from “me” to “we,” WellSpring began to take shape.

Even now, WellSpring’s first instinct is to collaborate with community partners and those who may not be involved in the conversation.“If you’re part of WellSpring, [...] you’re there for community interest,” says Marcus. “WellSpring is such an important part of the community that I think any human services agency benefits from being engaged with it.”Though there are several reasons community members and organizations come to collaborate with WellSpring, it’s safe to say that most stay for the teamwork and partnerships evident at every event and meeting.“People who come together by choice to ask the question ‘why not?’ or ‘what can we do?’ or ‘how can we help?’, and that’s an incredible group of people to be around. And that’s what it does for me—it’s invigorating and it’s motivating and it’s rewarding.”To those who haven’t already experienced the “WellSpring effect”, we encourage you to reach out and explore how you can get involved. As Marcus puts it, “You don’t really realize how that can be rewarding to provide a connection to others.”Thank you for all that you have done with us Geri Marcus! We can’t wait to see what the next decade holds for our community.